So how did I get Linux running on the Sony Vaio VPCZ11X9E with most basic features working, including nvidia driven graphics at 1600×900?

All Linux distributions and versions I tried (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Debian, Mint, Fedora) have a failing installation in someway on this (very new) laptop. The newer distributions fail on the graphics (blank screen, except Kubuntu 8.10). The older versions fail to enable the WiFi. All need a little help for the touchpad. Some distributions can’t handle the RAID disk (2×64GB SSD). So I deleted the RAID config (in BIOS enable ‘Show Raidinfo’ and use the delete option in the RAID configurator).

Eventually I used the Ubuntu 10.04 amd64 Release Candidate DVD in text installation mode.
I created a software RAID with LVM on top of it.
Once installed, the system failed on the graphics (blank screen, totally frozen, no text terminals). Holding the Shift key during boot gives access to the Grub menu. Replacing kernel parameters ‘quiet splash’ with ’single nomodeset i8042.nopnp’ gives a single user (root) mode that does not suffer from a blank screen (nomodeset) and will be able to use the touchpad (i8042.nopnp) once the graphics are running.
At that point it’s clear that Ubuntu 10.04 has working wired and wireless network on this VPCZ11. I tried apt-get upgrade without further success. Installing nvidia driver through Ubuntu sources or from the nVidia website helped neither. nvidia-detector said ‘none’. Starting X on nvidia driver complained about not finding an nvidia device.
The Intel driver failed with a blank screen without nomodeset and with a kernel panic with nomodeset enabled.
With nvidia-xconfig I created a basic /etc/X11/xorg.conf. When I set in that file ‘Driver’ to ‘vesa’ I get graphics working! But limited to 1024×768, which is probably the limit of the vesa driver. I read Sony is very special in how the LCD screen describes it self (with EDID), which could be the reason of the failing graphics. I did apt-get install read-edid. get-edid|parse-edid gives a monitor section which you can enter in xorg.conf. But this didn’t help me.

lspci always show both the intel and nvidia graphics, no matter if the hardware button is on Stamina, Speed of Auto. The hardware graphics selection lights almost never follow the button’s settings. The only way to get it really running in a certain graphics mode, is by running first an older kernel into that graphics mode. I did that first by running my Kubuntu 8.10 CD in between. UPDATE 5/5/10: I found that booting the 2.6.31-10-rt kernel (included in the Ubuntu Lucid Lynx repository) will also do the trick on the next reboot.

UPDATE 6/5/10: Based on the suggestions of Atrawog hereunder in the comments, it is possible to configure one kernel that does all the basics for nvidia (graphics switch is always ok, 1600×900, network, sound, hibernate).

Add to /etc/apt/sources.list :

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kernel-ppa/pre-proposed/ubuntu  karmic main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kernel-ppa/pre-proposed/ubuntu karmic main

As root do:

apt-get update

apt-get install linux-image-2.6.31-20-generic

apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic-generic

apt-get install linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-20-generic

apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.31-20-generic

apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-2.6.31-20-generic

./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-195.36.15-pkg2.run

Update grub to take the 2.6.31-20 as default with i8042.nopnp option

To sum up:

• with nvidia driver (speed mode) I get 1600×900 graphics!
• with the intel driver (stamina mode; which I would prefer) I get kernel panics or blank screens (with or without nomodeset).
• I’m still searching for a way to change the brightness of the screen.

• Encrypt your passwords and data traffic, e.g. on untrusted (WiFi) networks.
• Avoid changing smtp servers when moving laptop between work and home.
• Pass validation as a machine of your university/company/…

Setup of the tunnel

• We will forward localhost ports over an encrypted tunnel through a ssh server (at our work/university/ISP/…) to our mail and proxyservers over there.
• Choose your ssh-server as close as possible to your mail and proxyserver, or even better choose one of those two as the ssh-server if possible.
• It’s easy to choose the local ports as { remote port + 10000 }
• General example (one line):
  ssh -L 10080:proxyserver:80 -L 10025:smtpserver:25 -L 10110:popserver:110 -N sshserver -l your_username_on_sshserver
• Example for my university (one line):
  ssh -L 10080:proxy.vub.ac.be:80 -L 10025:smtp.vub.ac.be:25 -L 10110:pop.vub.ac.be:110 -N mach.vub.ac.be
• UPDATE APRIL 2009: My University/VUB proxy server is dead. A proxyless solution can be constructed as follows:
  ssh -D 10080 -L 10025:smtpserver:25 -L 10110:popserver:110 -N sshserver -l your_username_on_sshserver
  ssh -D 10080 -L 10025:smtp.vub.ac.be:25 -L 10110:pop.vub.ac.be:110 -N mach.vub.ac.be

Setup of the client programs

• Mailclient: smtp host = localhost, port = 10025
• Mailclient: pop host = localhost, port = 10110
• Webbrowser
  With proxy: http proxy = localhost, port = 10080
  Without proxy: SOCKS host = localhost. port = 10080

Example of tunnel setup and Firefox (Iceweasel) web browser setup (click to enlarge):

Security

• This ssh encryption (actually encryption protocols can be chosen) is far superior to any WiFi WEP or WPA encryption.
• Firewall your 10xx0 ports, otherwise bad people might be able to use your home machine to send spam through your company mailserver or access other info they are not entitled to.
• This setup allows you to go through undesired firewalls blocking www, mail, or other services (imap 143, news 119, …, probably not ftp)
  • IF the ssh port is not blocked
  • and IF you have a valid ssh login.
• Basically this allows you to use in a very secure way services that (probably for security reasons) are only available inside the organisation.
• If the ssh-port is blocked somewhere in your path, you could setup ssh on any other non-firewalled port on some server inside your organisation
• This method does not give you access to services you’re not entitled to, but you might need to consult the network policy of your organisation.

General considerations

• Ofcourse one can tunnel much more than just mail and www.
• Maybe stunnel could be used instead of ssh?
• Above method is constructed on Linux with OpenSSH, but you find this OpenSSH or another SSH client (preferably command line) on most other decent Operating Systems (no, that does not include M$ Windows, see below).
• ssh is standard available on Mac OS X and this is reported to work.
• M$ Windows lacks a ssh client, but Windows users could have a look at OpenSSH for Windows, cygwin or Putty.
• Test on a Sony-Ericsson P900 Smartphone: There is a putty client for Symbian, but it seems it does not (yet) support port forwarding.
• Test on a Qtek 2200(?) PDA: There is a putty client for MS Windows Mobile Pocket PC, but it seems it does not yet support port forwarding.
• UPDATE APRIL 2009: if you install the package “autossh – Automatically restart SSH sessions and tunnels” you can replace the ’ssh’ command in the above examples by ‘autossh’
• You can avoid the need for passwords with ssh-keys:
  ssh-keygen -t rsa
  (enter empty passphrase)
  upload the generated ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub on your server at your server in .ssh/authorized_keys